Heart and Soul.

In a brutal encounter, Letterkenny U14s give everything they have, to triumph over Ballynahinch.

It was the most physical match of the season to date, when Letterkenny faced Ballynahinch, in the quarter finals, of the Ulster Carpets Under 14s league play-offs. A dreary morning and a bruising game. This wasn't going to be easy.

Letterkenny U14s had won the "North" league of Ulster, winning all 14 matches. ( There are four areas that Ulster is split into, for the purposes of U14s Rugby. North, South, East 1 and East 2. The top two teams from each area, go into play offs, to become Ulster Champions. )

Letterkenny kicked off, deep into Ballynahinch's half.
The first ten minutes were all Letterkenny. We had possession, and we were striking Ballynahinch, every way we could. The play swung towards Ballynahinch, who then, had possession and ran at Letterkenny. Our defence was great. Letterkenny tackling, was keeping us in the game. Ballynahinch crossed the tryline, but they spilt the ball, and it was knocked forward. No try.

Letterkenny Captain, Jack Speer, ( who always has a high tackle rate, in any game ), was putting in heavy hits, and had a massive collision, stopping a player five yards from the Ballynahinch tryline. Play was stopped for a few minutes and thankfully, Jack was able to continue playing.

Half time : Letterkenny 0 - Ballynahinch 0

Ballynahinch kicked off, to restart play. Letterkenny played with more confidence, in the second spell.
Letterkenny flyhalf, Kaymin Shortt, took clearance kicks, to move things away from Ballynahinch tryline. Letterkenny successfully deployed their "crash rangie" move, and gained territory, but couldn't breach Ballynahinch's line.

Late in the second half, Ballynahinch were penalized, within kicking distance of the posts.
Unfortunately, Kaymin Shortt's attempt at the goalposts, was unsuccessful. Ballynahinch kicked the restart from the 22. Kaymin jumped ( to catch the high kick ) and was tackled mid-air. The referee yellow-carded the offending Ballynahinch player, and we were given another shot, at the posts. This time, Kaymin sent the ball straight through the uprights. The crowd roared.

With the clock ticking down, neither team could breach the defences, of the other side.
The referee blew the whistle. It was a low scoring match and it was all over.

Full time : Letterkenny 3 - Ballynahinch 0

All the Letterkenny boys, put their heart and soul, into the match, lead from the front, by their Captain, Jack Speer.
This is a team, who are giving everything to win, and more .......

Next week - The Semi Finals. Bring it on.

Letterkenny Under 14s ( starting ) XV :

1 Jack Gibbons
2 Eoin Parkinson
3 Jack Doherty
4 Jynaid Rayes
5 Conor Mangan
6 Issac Mcllwaine
7 Jack Speer ( Captain )
8 Oisin Farrell
9 Ben Hopkins
10 Kaymin Shortt
11 Tiernan McFadden
12 Peter Sparks
13 Rory O'Connell
14 Ewan Douglas
15 Bryan McGettigan

Reserves :
Forwards - Gaetano Cinquenani, Dan Geoghegan, Matthew Duffy, Matthew Murray, Lorcan Sweeney.
Backs - David Henry, David Sparks.

Thanks to the coaches, referee, supporters, and Ballynahinch RFC.